It turns out NASA’s Mars helicopter was much more revolutionary than we knew

THE CLICHÉ HAS it that sufficiently advanced technologies are indistinguishable from magic. But if you agree with Dan McKinley’s quietly influential essay “Choose Boring Technology,” the desired end state of technologies isn’t to keep being magical but to become boring. Magic relies on the element of surprise, but the last thing you want on a

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The hard part of going into space is creating a vehicle that goes fast enough so it can stay in orbit

When the Soviet Union launched the first human-made satellite into orbit in October 1957, it had an instant and profound effect on the American psyche and government policy. The event sparked widespread U.S. public anxiety about perceived Soviet technological superiority, with Americans following the satellite across the night sky and tuning in to

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